


The Gift of the Magi

by fanyelina



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-24 21:15:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22324522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fanyelina/pseuds/fanyelina
Summary: Some fluffy Hella Adaire Adelaide things! Giving gifts that truly mean something to our significant others!
Relationships: Adaire Ducarte/Adelaide Tristé/Hella Varal, Adaire Ducarte/Hella Varal, Adelaide Tristé/Hella Varal
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5
Collections: Secret Samol 2019





	The Gift of the Magi

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hedgemice](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hedgemice/gifts).



Adaire wasn’t the type to be easily impressed. That’s what happened when you met gods and saw them die. Royalty, money, wealth, power…she’d seen it all. Having all of that was just a matter of luck, in her opinion. What family you were born into, who you rubbed elbows with… you could get lucky, it was true. She’d gotten lucky. It was easier to admit these days. It wasn’t by conniving, by scheming, by expending a gargantuan amount of energy to become wealthy and successful, that Adaire had found happiness. It was just…luck. Falling in with the right people. Or the right person. Had Adaire always secretly wanted somebody huge to protect her? Did it betray some kind of frailty she had long hidden away? To be wrapped up by those incredibly strong arms was to be stable, secure…

Or maybe Hella was just incredibly hot.

And as with everything good, there were a few conditions…caveats, if you would…one of which happened to be sitting in front of her right now. As “in front” as you could get in a dream, anyway. Adelaide Tristé was dressed in a gown that looked like it was made of bird wings… or maybe mist, or falling pearls, or tissue paper. It shifted and shimmered in front of Adaire, and her conception of it shifted and shimmered as well. Adaire sighed and rubbed her temples. Gods. Why did they always have to be… _like_ that. 

“To what do I owe the…honor?” She asked finally. Adelaide didn’t answer immediately and Adaire took a moment to take stock of her surroundings. It was something that looked like her home, although it was perhaps a bit larger…there were a few more doors, more chests filled to the brim with different objects. A few boxes appeared to be buzzing, a few others seemed to give off a strange heat… “I gather we’re in my subconscious, not yours?” Adaire asked dryly.

“Well…I thought you might be a little more comfortable here.” Adelaide answered sheepishly. She looked horrendously out of place in her expansive and ever changing gown, a royal invader in a place that was so clearly made for someone else.

“Are you— is this— I’m really uh…” Adaire paused, thinking of how best to word that she wasn’t really interested in joining up with them for nightly dream sexcapades. “Y’know we’re cool and all that, but I’m not really looking for anything…”

“Oh! Oh— no, I— That’s not—“ Adelaide stumbled over her words, “Not that you’re not lovely, of course, but it wasn’t erm…”

She looked so truly honestly uncomfortable, that Adaire took pity on her. “Alright, fine. Sit tight then. Do you want to…change into something more comfortable?” She got up and headed towards the kitchen area, opening several drawers & cupboards (one full of flowers, another full of snakes, another with only ashes), before finally finding a kettle.

“That would be lovely.”

Adelaide rummaged through the other chests in the house. _For all this being my own subconscious,_ she thought to herself grimly, _things aren’t exactly easy to find._ She returned from her search with a simple blue gown and corset, and some comfortable, worn brown boots. She didn’t remember giving them to Adelaide, only that the next thing she knew the goddess had the ensemble on and was sipping tea (Had she poured it? Had the kettle even sung?) out of a chipped china mug that Adaire hadn’t seen since her childhood. She looked a little less…ridiculously ethereal, which was nice. Now she wasn’t as hard to look at.

“So.” Adaire said, her tone businesslike. “What can I do for you?”

“I’ve bought a gift for Hella and I’d like…to wrap it.”

“You’ve bought a gift.” Adaire repeated slowly.

“For Hella, yes.”

“And you need to wrap it.”

“That’s correct.”

“And…you needed to consult me because…?”

“Well I didn’t want to just, you know… unwrapping it is kind of the fun part. And I thought I could have you do it, but, I wanted something a little more personal.” Adelaide sipped her tea, lowering her eyes, unconsciously flirtatious, “A personal touch.”

“Uh huh.” Adaire replied, looking slightly sardonic.

“I’ll pay you of course… not with money, you don’t really need that…but I could give you _time_.”

If Adaire had been a dog, her ears would have perked up.

“Not much of it… but a few seconds here or there… a few stolen minutes…even an hour, should you wish it. To do with as you please.”

It wasn’t a bad deal. How often had she wished for just a few seconds to escape? Just a moment longer with a loved one? Just an hour more to do as she pleased?

“Hm.” Adaire said, crossing her legs and tugging at her gloves. She looked up and met Adelaide’s eyes with a little spark. “What do you need wrapped?”

And all she had to do was teach Adelaide how to _wrap_ something. How hard could it be?

* * *

Recently, Hella had noticed that Adaire was waking up crabbier and crabbier. Hella herself hadn’t been having the best nights…Adelaide had mysteriously vanished from her kingdom, leaving Hella to walk the white marble halls alone. It wasn’t terribly unusual. Gods, Hella thought, were rather a lot like cats. They did whatever they pleased, whenever they liked. Hella would have said she envied their freedom, except she didn’t…not really. Something in her liked to serve. How many nights had she spent with Adelaide’s pearl collar on her neck—

“Ricks! I SAID no scheming during breakfast!” Adaire snapped without turning around from the stove.

Hella saw Ricks jump guiltily and hide the map they’d been whispering over with Row. The kids both looked towards Hella, indignant. Hella shrugged and made a shooing motion. She pointed at Adaire and made the hand motion for “crazy”. Ricks nodded, grabbed a piece of toast & shoved it in Row’s mouth before taking one for themselves. They left quickly, jumping stealthily out of the window. Or it would have been stealthy if the chickens hadn’t started squawking.

Adaire turned and sighed. There was a frown line in the middle of her forehead and Hella approached her gently. She grabbed the back of Adaire’s neck and bent down, putting her forehead against hers.

“Adaire.” She said simply, and grinned when Adaire blushed.

“I’m just tired.” Adaire muttered, petulant.

“Yeah I’ve noticed…is…everything okay?”

“Everything is dandy.” Adaire grumbled, and then relented. “Just some dumb uh.. y’know, the kids at the school…they keep coming back with these maps, and they’re all wrong. And I’m like, hey, could you do it like I said? And I show them how to do it, you know. I’m very patient.”

“Uh huh.”

“Well the point is every time I come back to check on the…maps… it’s a mess. I’ve never met someone so inept in my life! And it’s like she enjoys it! She thinks it’s funny!”

Hella cocked her head to the side. “I don’t think people try to be bad at things on purpose.”

“This is how I know you don’t get out enough.” Adaire scoffed.

“Jeez well, I mean I could like, double up on my patrols if you want.”

“Oh stop. You know I don’t mean it. I mean…I _like_ …having you home.”

Adaire was giving her that very special look, suddenly, and Hella’s mouth went dry.

“Oh yeah?” She asked weakly, wondering why Adaire could do this to her so quickly.

“As a matter of fact, don’t you have to go make the bed?”

“Oh. Yeah. Do I? I mean yeah. I mean I guess I do.” Hella mumbled, feeling her face get hot.

“I’ll be there in five minutes to check how well you did.” Adaire said smugly.

 _How in the hell did I get so lucky?_ Hella asked herself as she rumpled the already made bed.

* * *

Being a queen wasn’t hard. Adelaide has always thought this, even when she had first ascended the throne, after her brother had killed her father and unceremoniously left Nacre. The business of ruling was partially administrative, and she had advisors & people under her for that. The rest of it was just appearances and well, Adelaide had always liked to put on a show. Ordering people around was second nature.

It was difficult, then, when she had to foster relationships that were something…other… than ordering them around. It had been four years since the spring (as far as she could tell, by way of the unchanging seasons) and though she could say she was happy about her and Hella’s arrangement, she couldn’t help but feel that something was missing.

That feeling was especially strong when, during their long nights together, Hella would tell her about her home life. Something Adelaide felt she wasn’t really a part of… and she was so very used to having the things she wanted that eventually she decided she was just going to do something about it if it killed her (ha ha).

And now, at the end of her exploits, she wondered if it had worked. She’d spent around a month going to visit Adaire nightly, messing up the wrapping (mostly not on purpose, she was terrible with little manual things), and idly chattering away. She wondered if the blonde had softened, at all…

“Adelaide?”

Hella’s voice was surprised, and Adelaide turned around, laying eyes on the woman she most loved in the world. She was dressed in the suit Samothes had given her, black and gold. Her hair was a little longer than when she’d seen her a month ago. Adelaide had missed her terribly, but she wasn’t going to let it show. Not yet.

“You’re here!” Hella didn’t bother disguising the joy in her voice as she grinned down at her. She crossed the room in three large strides and picked her up, kissing her immediately and then holding her close. Hidden in her arms, Adelaide allowed herself a large smile as she took in her smell.

“It’s your birthday, dearest!” Adelaide said finally, when they had parted.

“Oh! Is it? I mean that’s cool.” Hella replied, somewhat sheepish.

“I’ve got something for you.” Adelaide snapped her fingers, and materializing out of thin air a long wrapped package landed gracefully in front of them.

“You wrapped it?” Hella asked, bemused. Usually Adelaide’s gifts were given to her on beds of pearls, or between two perfect looking ice sculptures. Hella picked up the package and examined it. “This looks like— Did _Adaire_ wrap this?”

“Well, no. I mean she helped me, but I did it. It did take me a few tries.”

“A few— is that where you’ve— Adaire helped you?” Hella looked up from examining her gift, surprise written on her features.

“For a little something in exchange.” Adelaide simpered slightly.

Hella put the package carefully on the floor and picked Adelaide up again, kissing her thoroughly, leaving her breathless. “You’re so! Cute! Adaire helped you? Wow that explains a lot.”

“I thought— well, I thought it might be nice to… you know, spend some time together… Just in case, well, I don’t always want to be this semi-hidden lover…”

“Uh huh?” Hella asked with a grin. She picked up her package and unwrapped it, pulling out an ornate sword, sharp and sleek. It was a mirrored blade, the kind that could look through windows and worlds. She set the sword down. “You’re not my hidden lover, Adelaide… You can come by whenever you like. Literally.”

“Literally.” Adelaide repeated, and tittered nervously. She was starting to feel a little foolish, bearing her feelings like that, but Hella had started to kiss the palm of her hand, and her wrist, and the crook of her elbow.

“It makes me happy.” Hella murmured.

“What?” Adelaide asked, drinking in the attention.

“It makes me happy that you want to spend time with her. That you want to get to know her.” Hella said between kisses.

“Oh, well that’s— I mean, you love her. And I love you. So.”

“You what?”

Adelaide rolled her eyes through her smile. “I said I love you.”

“Oh.” Hella said, grinning. “That’s what I thought you said.”

Adelaide huffed a little. “Whatever.”

Hella kissed her deeply, “I love you too. Thank you.”

* * *

“Ricks, get off the couch.” Hella said as she wrestled with Row, who was entirely opposed to getting his hair done.

“You heard her.” Adaire repeated after her, the authority figure in the house. Ricks got off the couch.

It was Samol’s day. The day of his death, where everyone celebrated his life giving small handmade gifts, singing music, and generally making a racket. There were so few occasions for parties that when there were, the people of Hieron celebrated intensely.

There was a knock at the door and Adaire hurried to answer it. On the other side, Adelaide stood wearing a flattering winter coat & a fur hat. She had gifts in her arms.

“Hello—!” She started, and then stopped when she heard wailing inside. “Oh dear. Did I come too early?”

“Nonsense.” Adaire said smartly, taking the gifts from her and placing them by the hearth. She returned to give Adelaide a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Hella came out to greet her, kissing her fully and then Adaire, causing Row to shriek with disgust. She did it again for good measure.

At night, when the fire was dim, the children were in bed, and the three women sat in the living room sleepily drinking hot chocolate, Adaire would sleepily turn to Adelaide and say, “Five more minutes, please.”

And Adelaide gladly gave it to her.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked this fic! I'm very rusty but I think it turned out kind of sweet. Plus I really enjoyed writing this since I just recently am falling for someone...writing fluff became kind of easy <3 
> 
> Also I have a few little doodles I made to accompany this but I'll be posting those on twitter & tagging you! Happy Secret Samol!


End file.
